Monday, 28th April 2008 - 08:16CET
Fake Maltese passports seized in Bangkok
Fake Maltese passports are among a large quantity of false passports which have been seized by the police in Bangkok.
Mohammed Karim, a 56-year-old from Bangladesh, was nabbed in a Bangkok townhouse late on Saturday by police who found a sophisticated passport making operation and more than 1,000 finished and unfinished documents, Police Major-General Chaktip Chaichinda said.
"He admitted that he made fake passports," Chaktip told Reuters, adding that his partner, a Myanmar national, escaped arrest.
The passports were for several countries including the United States, New Zealand, France, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Malta.
Police seized two computers, a scanner, three printers and rubber stamps for several countries.
"This guy is rich. He has a BMW. He said he made about 300,000-400,000 baht per month (around $10,000)," Chaktip said.
The passports were sold to a group of Thai and Burmese middlemen who then sold them to gangs engaged in prostitution, terrorism and smuggling, he said.
If convicted, Karim faces up to 20 years in jail.
"It's the biggest fake passport case in the past four to five years," Chaktip said. Passport fraud is a common problem in Thailand, where police seized 100 fake documents last year.
(Picture: Bangkok Post)
RSS
Comments
(http://www.delarue.com/Display.aspx?MasterId=9d8e3f01-1566-41d1-89f8-670e2b4ee543&NavigationId=935) which is being purchased by most countries since it is the best on the market. I would like to advise Mr Grech that it is unfair to criticise the Maltese Administration based on his own assumptions and not on real facts.
Humans are seekers of achievements. faking object probably is one of them for some of these humans
We have the safest standard of living in the whole of Europe.
Best standard of education.
One of the best in health care.
Yes we are ahead in IT. (In the UK over 45% of households that have internet ,are still on telephone lines instead of ADSL).
The only real problem in Malta is people who complain that whatever is Maltese is never good enough!
Better still a picture of Mickey Mouse on the front cover will do just fine, if you enter the US through Florida.
When did you last have your passport renewed, I had my last one nearly 10 years ago and it has a photo but laminated on top. The new ones have the photo now printed on the paper. This is a European standard for new passports.
Last time I had a photo stuck on my passport with glue or a staple was about 20 years ago. When our fantastic passport had the traditional Maltese boat, the sun and a cactus on the front (like the one on Mintoff's belt buckle), it was green like the Libyan passports, had French and Arabic translation and even a Map of the Med so people can see where Malta was. That was a joke that made people laugh.
The new passports look the business, have the necessary international standards, and are very impressive. Our crest on the front is something to be proud of, and I am. As to looking fake, I really do not know where you are coming from.
I have never had a problem with my passport and I have been on and off a plane more than I care to remember and visited passport control in a score of different countries. More often than not I have experienced that most people take longer with my passport as they have never seen a Maltese passport, however that should not be the case in Europe. So I really do not know what you mean by your comments below.
Can you give us 3 examples, please...?
Ha ha ha ha haj! Is this the same gimmick as the state of the art (new roads) that the Europeans are envious of? Ha ha ha ha haj. Let me breath a little - Ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha! Go and live somewhere else Allen and taste the difference!
Nice weather will also help.
(and a compass that only points to N)